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July 1 - john has started a new painting of some friend's, Tanya and Herb's, macaw, Phoebe and their very rare crimson-winged, orange-beak parakeet, Rosie. These two birds have another friend, a macaw named Tigi. john plans to paint all three into a painting called "The Tropical Girls". Here is the background so far:
July 2 - Here is the beginning of "The Tropical Girls" for Tanya and Herb. john still views the painting as being in the pre-ugly stage. john has darkened the computer image of the painting one step to bring out the macaws better:
July 4 - the changes from July 2nd include more hues on the birds and subtle highlights, such as lighting on the beaks.
john sees some major changes such as an increase in the size of the tail on Rosie (the parakeet). Also, Tigi needs more definition. john may have to meet Tigi to understand several shapes going on in Tigi's photo (the painting is a combination of about six different photograhs taken by Tanya). john isn't happy at all with Phoebe's mid and lower back feathers. john may also lower the branch that Tigi is sitting on. It is too high. Finally, john will add back some of the lighter highlights to give the painting more depth.
Obviously, the painting has a long ways to go yet, but it is so much fun to paint these beautiful birds!
July 4 pm -
July 5 (4 am) - sometimes art is just the random act of painting over and over until it looks right (or is pleasing ... or both). john is happier now with Phoebe's mid-feathers. john needs to work on Tigi more, but must meet Tigi in person before doing so.
July 6 -
July 8 -
July 9 -
July 12 -
July 15 - The painting has just started its transitional phase. john has switch to oils which blend better than acrylics do because oils dry so slowly. john often finds that he has to go to a previous rendition on a portion of the painting. He likes the darker blue on Phoebe's back and tail of the July 12 version rather than the way it looks now.
July 15 (4:36 PM - john painted "wet in wet" in order to correct the tail feathers. They still aren't as strong as they were on July 12, but they are better than they were earlier today.
July 16 -
July 18 - john likes the head on Phoebe better as July 16 as opposed to how he has painted it today. He will keep the correct colors but will put the size of the head back the way it was before. Somehow it has gotten smaller. He is also working on Phoebe's beak to get it more realistic. He has to wait for the oils to dry some before he continues to put on any highlights on the beak. He also has put some additional work in on the jungle's sun beams hitting the plants and across Phoebe's tail. John also has now painted the sides of the canvas, as it is a deep frame canvas (1 1/2 inches thick).
July 20 - "The Tropical Girls" is almost finished. john has switched the way he is signing his paintings from "John C..." to a morphed version of the way he signs "John", which then becomes a blue butterfly. Please note the blue butterfly and year at the bottom of this painting. Also, john has taken a magnified photo of the butterfly.
The blue butterfly first appeared in john's painting of "The Sisterhood of the Blue Butterfly" (See this painting in john's art gallery). The blue butterfly then appeared again at the end of the movie: "Alice In Wonderland 2010". john has just decided to make it his signature symbol, so "The Tropical Girls" has the honor of being the first place you will see it.
July 20 2:35 PM - Phoebe has been on a quick diet. Don't we wish dieting was that fast and easy!
July 21 - Tanya and Herb felt they wanted to see a little more of the gold on Phoebe's front. They also suggested that john put a leg on Tigi. john also put a little more light blue on the tip of Tigi's wing. Here are the results of john doing those things:
July 25 - john plans to paint "St. Lucia Women Doing Laundry" next:
His mind sees things differently than most of us do and it's to our amusement.
Here are some of his gems:
1 - I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.
2 - Borrow money from pessimists -- they don't expect it back.
3 - Half the people you know are be low average.
4 - 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5 - 82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
6 - A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
7 - A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
8 - If you want the rainbow, you got to put up with the rain.
9 - All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my hand.
10 - The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
11 - I almost had a psychic girlfriend, ..... but she left me before we met.
12 - OK, so what's the speed of dark?
13 - How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?
14 - If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
15 - Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
16 - When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
17 - Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
18 - Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now.
19 - I intend to live forever.... so far, so good.
20 - If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
21 - Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
22 - What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
23 - My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
24 - Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?
25 - If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
26 - A conclusion is the place where you g ot tired of thinking.
27 - Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
28 - The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread
29 - To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.
30 - The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
31 - The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
32 - The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body is required to be on it.
33 - Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don't have film.
And an all time favorite-
34 - If your car could travel at the speed of light, would your headlights work?
July 27 - john decided to try to enlarge the "women washing portion" of the painting. To see how it looks, john used Adobe Elements and the cut and paste features. Here is how it looks now:
July 27 (afternoon) - john has started on the pre-ugly stage of "St. Lucia Women Doing Laundry". This is actually the compositional stage. john is just trying to get the major items located on the canvas.
It often surprises john when an area of a photo is unclear. For example, the area under the house was unclear to john. In this case, he has painted that area as a concrete block support for the house.
July 28 - "St. Lucia Women Doing Laundry" has already defined itself as an Impressionist work! This is a surprise to john.
July 29- john lightened the sky. In doing so, he painted out some of the palm trees. At first, he was not going to post an image today, but he painted enough to do so anyway. Here is what "St. Lucia Women Doing Laundry" looks like today:
July 31-
